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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23803657">Giving Thanks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsisKitsune/pseuds/IsisKitsune'>IsisKitsune</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Devil's in the details [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Fluff, Gen, Getting to Know the Family, Light Angst, Peter Parker is Matt Murdock's Biological Child, Questions, Saltmates, Thanksgiving</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:27:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,256</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23803657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsisKitsune/pseuds/IsisKitsune</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt was glaring while he chopped, “Dad, everyone here is in the know, you don't have to be 'careful cutting'...” Matt shook himself out of his internal raging after the report from Jessica.<br/>“I'm, actually being careful on purpose,” Matt shifted the pieces to the pot, “Did you get the bird?”<br/>“Yep, right here,” Peter opened the fridge to pat the bird.<br/>“Good, can you start carving it?”<br/>“Um, uh...”<br/>Matt smirked, “Want me to?”<br/>“Look, I've seen you do it year after year, I just, not that comfortable with knives alright. What if it slips?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jessica Jones &amp; Matt Murdock, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Devil's in the details [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>168</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Giving Thanks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Matt was glaring while he chopped, “Dad, everyone here is in the know, you don't have to be 'careful cutting'...” Matt shook himself out of his internal raging after the report from Jessica.</p>
<p>“I'm, actually being careful on purpose,” Matt shifted the pieces to the pot, “Did you get the bird?”</p>
<p>“Yep, right here,” Peter opened the fridge to pat the bird.</p>
<p>“Good, can you start carving it?”</p>
<p>“Um, uh...”</p>
<p>Matt smirked, “Want me to?”</p>
<p>“Look, I've seen you do it year after year, I just, not that comfortable with knives alright. What if it slips?”</p>
<p>Matt sighed as he dropped the rest of his chopped vegetables in the pot before going over to grab the bird and put it in the sink to start rinsing it off. “Alright, just this once, next year I expect you to do it,” he finished cleaning the bird before pulling out all the annoyances and tossing them in the sink. “Honestly, I was the same way when I was a kid. Couldn't stand to hear it. But, dad got a bird every year, he'd share with the widow across the street and the old fella down the block, so. We always got a bird.”</p>
<p>“Sounds like us... You still do that with the lady across the hall...”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Matt frowned, thinking this would be the last year he got to do that. “The knife's not in the drawer, did you put it somewhere?”</p>
<p>“Oh, sorry, cleaned it and put it in the drying rack. Hold on.”</p>
<p>Matt smiled as he finished drying the bird before flipping it over, “Easiest way to cook a bird. Cut out the back, lay it down flat. So, if you have a problem with the sound, it might be a good idea to take a walk,” Matt shifted his head over to the door.</p>
<p>“I'm alright, Matt, I've actually never seen it done this way before,” MJ was watching as he trimmed tidbits to go into the broth pot before he shifted his grip to get it started.</p>
<p>“I can't remember who taught it to dad. He probably asked around out of necessity at one point.” Matt shifted his grip and twisted one he finally got all the area cut. “Now's the snapping part.” He sighed, “Peter you moved my pan didn't you?”</p>
<p>“Only so I could get something, here.”</p>
<p>Matt set the bird down before shifting it and pressing it down flat, wincing at the feel and sound of the chest cracking before seasoning it, “Now we wait...” He set the bird in the oven and set the spine into the stock pot with the other tidbits to start simmering. “So, you get anything?”</p>
<p>Peter shook his head, “He's gone underground, dad, I'm telling you. People like Fury just, poof. It happens. I mean, he is technically dead, right? That's why they do things like that.”</p>
<p>“Peter's right, guys like that go dark. Hide out, waiting out suspicion. Especially considering who he is.” Matt smacked her hand away from the carrot he'd intended to candy and just hadn't gotten around to putting them in the oven yet. “Ow...”</p>
<p>“Stay out of those, there's more carrots in the fridge.” Matt sighed when she grabbed another before heading to the fridge.</p>
<p>“Do you have any ranch?”</p>
<p>“Bottom door, right side.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” MJ shifted before Matt rolled his eyes. “Um, your space rules still stand?”</p>
<p>“I'm not holding a knife, no they don't.”</p>
<p>“Okay, then shove over, I need a dish.” Matt smiled as he stepped away to let her get a bowl and plate, “Want some, Peter?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“So, when is May supposed to be here? The tension is just suffocating...”</p>
<p>Matt dodged the carrot thrown at him while MJ laughed, “Peter, that doesn't work, remember?”</p>
<p>“I can still try...”</p>
<p>“Waste of a good carrot,” Matt grumbled as he shifted a stool to snag one and dip it in sauce.</p>
<p>“How, advanced are your senses?”</p>
<p>Matt snorted, “Took you long enough to ask questions.”</p>
<p>“Seemed a little awkward going from 'oh yeah he's Peter's dad and the Devil dude' to 'how the hell do you do it' without getting to know you. Plus it's obviously an echolocation thing. But, it's more than that so, spill.”</p>
<p>“It's, everything really. Anything not visual gives me information. It's just a matter of putting the pieces together. I've trained myself through the years to put it together.”</p>
<p>“How... precise is it?”</p>
<p>“That depends on how far away I'm 'looking' from and what it is. People are, to me they're almost like statues, but then again I wouldn't be able to tell if those were just as detailed as a human's face or less detailed.”</p>
<p>“Statues, some at least, are very detailed. Some down to the point of showing hairs others to the point of texturing the skin to show wrinkles and age.”</p>
<p>“Hm, didn't know that... Can't really remember seeing statues that much.”</p>
<p>MJ seemed a little off put as Matt reached out to stir his pot, “You had your sight?”</p>
<p>Matt nodded, “Lost it in an accident when I was 9. Freak accident, chemical spill. The chemicals killed off the receptors in my eyes and damaged the optic nerve. I was very lucky.”</p>
<p>“How was that lucky? You were blinded.”</p>
<p>“They feared for weeks after that my eyes would become infected due to the damage, or possibly end up deteriorating on their own. I'm lucky, they just stopped working, messed up some muscle control on them too. But that could be from years and years of not needing to focus or move them to a specific position. It's what can cause the shakes,” Matt shifted a finger back and forward, “It's kinda like flexing a muscle you haven't used in a long time and then trying to force it to do something without building it back up.”</p>
<p>“Huh, is that what causes that?”</p>
<p>“It doesn't always happen, but that's one of the 'unnerving' parts of being blind. It's why most wear glasses. To keep people from being unnerved by sudden rapid eye movements and shifts, plus it gets you taken more serious when you don't have the ability to visibly focus on someone while 'looking' off to God knows where,” Matt smiled as he drew a line of sight to MJ before shifting his hand toward his right, “When your brain lets you know of a noise or your muscles just get tired and relax.”</p>
<p>“Deflecting,” Peter coughed while Matt sighed.</p>
<p>“We got sidetracked I was not deflecting...”</p>
<p>“Deflecting...”</p>
<p>“Alright, you're not wrong...” Matt was glaring at Peter's smug posture, “It's, like a world on fire.” Peter's posture shifted, shrinking. “Everything, gives off some sort of information, like wisps of flames from the change in temperature or air current or scent, even sound. That's what I've never told you, Peter.” Matt stepped over and MJ reached out to stir the pot before frowning. “I can get a sense of things. People, items, everything but I can't get details the way you can with your eyes. I can't tell exactly how you have your hair up. It just 'looks' like you have a puff on the back of your head...” MJ snorted, “I'd assume you were mixed by the way your hair acts.”</p>
<p>“You would be correct in your assumption.” MJ looked surprised, “Can it tell you what mix?”</p>
<p>Matt shook his head, “Just, the way the hair moves and acts, and you don't have a lot of product in it but it still has this slight scent to it, like you've used something... But it's faded like a leave in conditioner that hasn't been washed out yet.”</p>
<p>“Relaxer, I relaxed my hair a few weeks ago. Does it really have that much residue?”</p>
<p>Matt shrugged, “I just smell some chemical, it's just too faint to identify. It could be a shampoo or conditioner I've never come across before for all I know.”</p>
<p>“Dad, you said, the things had no fire... when you were drunk. You said there was no fire or heat. How did those look then?”</p>
<p>“Just, smooth, constant movement, but no flames, no shift in sounds or temperature. Just, constantly changing.”</p>
<p>“Alright, so, if I did this...” Matt's head tilted as he frowned when she lifted her hand up to shift her hair, “Can you tell something's there?”</p>
<p>Matt snorted at her voice hitting something, cutting the sound like a knife. “Is it a hair?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but it's pretty obvious seeing as how I reached up to my hair. What if I do this?” Matt glared and swiped at his counter when she reached over and opened her fingers.</p>
<p>“Did you seriously just contaminate my work top,” Matt's fingers were skimming over the area she'd reached, head tilting as he verified grooves and cracks, checking for any sign of it before knocking on it and frowning. “I Swear if you got it stuck in a crack...” His nail plucked at a narrow split, he knocked again, listening before moving on.</p>
<p>“So, it's not that precise.”</p>
<p>Matt tilted his head toward the noise before she held up her fingers and blew, bringing the fact she was holding something to his attention. He reached out and felt the rough hair, “Oh, you're a bitch...”</p>
<p>MJ started chuckling, while Peter nearly squawked, “Don't call my girlfriend a bitch!”</p>
<p>“Nah, I earned that one, I had to see.”</p>
<p>“I need to clean this thing... and probably replace it at this point.” Matt's finger kept plucking at the crack he'd found during that little OCD fueled freak out.</p>
<p>“That's why you can't see features very well I'm guessing.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I have to be really close or touching to see features properly. No matter how good it is, it's not sight.”</p>
<p>“The fact that you knew I was holding anything at all is better than sight.”</p>
<p>“Now I need to clean my cook top, again...” Matt grumbled as he got the cleaner out. “Oh, Peter. Can you check the bakery? See if they have any day old french bread? If not grab some fresh I can fast track it if I have to.”</p>
<p>“On it, need anything else?”</p>
<p>“Oh, the damn cranberry canned shit... Don't know why people like that.”</p>
<p>“It's tradition, Matt!”</p>
<p>“Some traditions need to die!”</p>
<p>“Amen,” MJ mumbled before smiling at Matt, who rolled his eyes when she drew it with her fingers.</p>
<p>“I can usually tell expression, but most of the time I have to know them pretty well.”</p>
<p>“Really? Is it like, looking for specific facial shifts?”</p>
<p>“Some of them, others it's listening. Like I know when you're smiling and not meaning it. You can fake something to a T visually but you can't fake your heart beat or your scent changing. Not without some majorly good method acting. Foggy has actually gotten to the point he can lie to me... But only about little things. Loopholes. It's why Peter has tried and fail time and again to figure out how to do it. The heart always gives it away.”</p>
<p>“Scent change?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, your scent can change. Sorrow, tears, nervous sweat. Fear... Fear stings my nose, but at the same time it can taste sweet. It's odd.”</p>
<p>“That's probably left over from predatory behavior. A scared prey animal can lead predators to it through scent. Some hunting response left over from the old days of cavemen.”</p>
<p>Matt chuckled, “I'd believe it.”</p>
<p>“Touch?”</p>
<p>Matt snorted as he stirred his stock, “Very. I had to use vibration for awhile to navigate instead of hearing. Blew out my eardrum, went deaf in one ear for awhile at one point.”</p>
<p>“Pain...”</p>
<p>Matt nodded, “Yeah, pain. Pain hurts,” he chuckled.</p>
<p>“How bad is it?”</p>
<p>“Ever been stabbed?”</p>
<p>“No, I mean, I've messed up and like poked myself with a knife cooking but, not actual stab.”</p>
<p>“Needles feel like being stabbed. It just doesn't effect as large of an area. Heat, burns... seep and spread like acid poured on your skin but it soaks in... Hell, fingernails feel like razors if they haven't been blunted,” Matt held up his close cut nails. “And forget breaking or catching them on anything. Knife's edge.” Matt's hand ran over the crack he'd found, “Might be useful, but it's also very annoying and painful to be sensitive to sensation. Ugh, now I'm hung up on this damn crack.”</p>
<p>MJ winced, “Sorry.”</p>
<p>“I would have found it eventually.”</p>
<p>“What's cold feel like?”</p>
<p>Matt frowned, “It's, dying cells. It's, tightening skin and constricting vessels and blood flow. You don't want to know about frostbite. Nearly gotten that a few times. I was right on the brink a few times during my first winter out.”</p>
<p>“What's a punch feel like?”</p>
<p>Matt snorted, “Which end of the punch are we talking?”</p>
<p>“Throwing it.”</p>
<p>“It's, damage, skin, tendons, bones shifting, impact vibrations rushing up your arm. It's that deep bruising blooming in bones. I, don't think I can describe that one any different. I know it's not something most people experience.”</p>
<p>MJ was frowning, he could tell my her posture, “Can I ask you something?”</p>
<p>“Ask away.”</p>
<p>“Can you, like, tell if someone is hurt? I mean if you can't smell blood or anything?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, most of the time. There's a few things that can throw me off injury, but it rarely happens.”</p>
<p>“How much is Peter faking? I know he got banged up pretty hard the other night-”</p>
<p>“He's fine, a few bruises, one cut that's finally closed all the way but is still working on healing. Why?”</p>
<p>“He just, acts like everything's alright. It worries me sometimes.”</p>
<p>“Peter heals fast. I mean, half the stuff that would put me down for the night at least can be gone in a few hours for him. I think the only major issue we've had was after his trip to Europe... Came home with a bad, deep gash on his shoulder. He said he got hit by a train and ended up tearing it open a few times. If he'd have rested it would have healed a lot quicker.” Matt sighed, “You're scared...”</p>
<p>MJ jerked her head up, “I'm just, thinking.”</p>
<p>“You hide behind a mask of indifference, but you're worried and you're scared. Because of what I said. I could hear your heart rate go up. We, aren't exactly a normal family MJ. Hell I was raised in a household where dad would come home bloody and need stitched up. … I never had a normal household. But, it was home and it was family and it was Our normal, that's all that mattered.”</p>
<p>“Doesn't that, worry you though? Your kid getting hurt, night after night?”</p>
<p>Matt sighed as he headed to the trunk to pull his billy clubs, “See these?” He tossed her one before raising the other up to show here how the grapple opened. “When he first went out, it was on his own. After I found out, I'll admit, I panicked, kid had this permanent band of bruising right around here,” Matt swung the grapple out to pull it tight around his chest, “Kept reflex catching him. He got pissed. Got to the point he had cuts under his armpits sometimes. I just, didn't trust his spider sense... I didn't understand it then. That it was, just-”</p>
<p>“A variation of your enhances senses, that his brain was reflexively acting on.”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Didn't help the kid had tunnel vision bad when he started out. Point A, Point B, never see the problem in between...” Matt snapped his grapple back, “At least he got better about that. Though, it still shows sometimes.” Matt took back the other billy club before putting them away. “That kid, is amazing. And he has learned a lot, and he's also very bull headed.”</p>
<p>“Wonder where he gets that from...”</p>
<p>“His Uncle Foggy.” MJ snorted as Matt chuckled, “He's my son. I couldn't even stop myself from helping, even if I nearly get myself killed sometimes. I'd never be able to ask my son to do the same. At least the kid's lucky though. Doesn't have half the damn scars he would have if he took after me in that department...”</p>
<p>“You don't have the same healing ability?”</p>
<p>“No, that came long after,” Matt unbuttoned a few of the top buttons, shifting his shirt to show his collar bone, “Don't go against guys with giant blades on the ends of a chain... You end up like you just had fun with a table saw.”</p>
<p>“Jeez, how do you... you're in a suit 90 percent of the time, never mind.”</p>
<p>Matt smiled as he fixed his shirt, “I definitely prefer long sleeves, and don't go tanning.”</p>
<p>“How close have you gotten?”</p>
<p>“Close, I could feel my heart... it was starving for blood, smell it creeping in.”</p>
<p>“Smell what?”</p>
<p>“Death. I could just taste and smell blood and death and feel it squeezing my heart, but it didn't have a good enough grip on me. I kept coming up from it. Took a week to stop feeling like my heart was still starving for blood. But, don't tell anyone I told you that.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“A human can only lose so much and keep their heart beating. It fills and then it pumps it out and fills again. Claire would blow up if you told her that. I should have had a transfusion, gone to the hospital and stayed under watch. My heart could have stopped, any sudden spike could have caused it to stop if it started up at the right time.”</p>
<p>“Shit, I suddenly don't feel as scared about what Peter's doing...”</p>
<p>“Don't worry about me, I've been doing this way longer than the kid.” Matt sighed and grumbled, “What the hell is she doing here?”</p>
<p>“Murdock,” knocking, “I was told you were making a bird. “Need any help eating it?”</p>
<p>Peter was chuckling on the other side of the door, “Jess, I've got a key, move out of the way.”</p>
<p>“Oh, right.”</p>
<p>“Someone's hitting the bottle... Your sister asked you to Thanks Giving, didn't she?”</p>
<p>“No family talk bullshit, Murdock.”</p>
<p>“Fine, yeah there's a bird in the oven. Want some?”</p>
<p>“Sure.”</p>
<p>“So, you ran into someone at the store?”</p>
<p>“No, I called her, duh. Like Jess would shop this far from home...”</p>
<p>“Smells good at least.”</p>
<p>“Jess if you open that oven you aren't eating anything.”</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, touchy, what's this then?”</p>
<p>“Stock, for stuffing and and gravy... and turkey and noodles later... if there's anything left.”</p>
<p>“Aaaah who knew the Devil was so domestic?”</p>
<p>“Are you actually expecting to eat in my apartment after insulting me?”</p>
<p>“Not an insult, just stating a fact.”</p>
<p>“He's adorable,” MJ was smirking, “you should just ask him out and get it over with.”</p>
<p>Peter snorted and trying to hide his laughter while Jessica looked stunned and Matt was hiding his eyes and laughing. “They aren't interested in each other, otherwise I would have said that a long time ago.”</p>
<p>“Ew,” Jessica said, “You sure he's your kid?”</p>
<p>Matt shook his head, “So the tests say.”</p>
<p>“Hey! Do not turn that salt to me, dad, go back to bickering with your saltmate!”</p>
<p>“Salt, what now?”</p>
<p>Matt sighed, “It's this new teen thing, sort of like soul mates but it's salt mates. People that are destined to be together in the world just to piss each other off.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, in that case, I agree.”</p>
<p>Matt snorted, “You would.”</p>
<p>“So, when's dinner?”</p>
<p>“At dinner time, just, go entertain the kids or something, I've got gravy and crap to start on.”</p>
<p> </p>
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